After Howick fight back, West City successfully defends its title

 LLOYD ELSMORE - It was one of those games for the ages that will certainly grow in proportion with the passage of time.

One game, winner takes all for the fifth National Club Championship. A game at Lloyd Elsmore Baseball Park on Sunday afternoon that had more twists and turns than kabuki. West City essentially had to win it twice.

"That was as much intensity as you've seen in a baseball game in a long time," the Tournament Director said after the three-hour spectacular ended with West City besting rival Howick, 13-9, in 9 innings. "It was incredible. It was really amazing."

And so West City are the champions once again, successfully defending their 2009 title.

Matt Mills was named MVP and was also named best pitcher. He was 3-4 in the final, with a 0.545 batting average in this year's tournament, and picked up the win in the final.

"It's not something that everybody can experience, and it's not something that everybody can earn," said Mills, who came back from a shocker in Game 1 against Howick on Friday to take his club to gold in the final. "So I feel that I'm very lucky. I'm really thankful about the MVP. I didn't think that it was going to be me at all."

"Gordon Niemann definitely deserved the pitching award. I'm not sure how they worked that out. Without him we wouldn't have got to the final. His effort against Canterbury was epic."

West City got out to a good start, picking up four runs in the first two innings, giving them a 4-0 lead going into the fourth inning.

But Howick came back to tie, then take the lead, 5-4, in the top of the fourth inning. Howick then shut down West City in the bottom frame, and came out again in the fifth, scoring three against hard-throwing 22-year-old West City right-handed starter Yuya Koizumi.

West City Coach Alan Lotze who had great confidence in his starter, then called for Mills to start the sixth inning. It ultimately worked out, but not without a lot of trepidation.

Mills was erratic, getting the leadoff hitter to ground out, and then walked the next batter, Duncan Issaks. Andrew Marck connected on one to right, but West City right fielder Daniel Lowe threw a lazer beam to third to gun out Issaks trying to pick up the extra bag. Marck stole second, then Mills struck out Best Batter of the tournament Aaron Campbell.

West City then went on a rampage in the bottom of the sixth inning, knocking out starting pitcher Marck, and relief pitcher Blair Johnson out of the game, posting nine runs in a huge inning which saw West City retake the lead, and the momentum of the game swung dramatically back into West City's favour.

Howick had their chance, picking up one in the eighth, but that was all they could muster, as Mills shut down the team in the ninth.

The game was played in front of a raucous crowd, including Prime Minister John Key, and heavyweight boxer David Tua, who also threw out the first pitch.

"When I think about what we set out to do, this is what we had in mind," Lotze said. "Through all the years and all the conversations, it all crystallized in these moments."

Like the Yankees and Red Sox in the U.S., West City vs. Howick has turned into the preeminent baseball rivalry on the New Zealand national scene.

"I believe [after all this], we are the best two teams in New Zealand," said Marck, Howick's starting pitcher on Sunday afternoon.

It may be hard to argue. Dating back to the innaugural '06 Championship, West City and Howick have met three times in the final. Three years ago, Howick won the final, but West City have taken the title in four out of the five championships.

West City defeated Canterbury to win the inaugural Championship, and that 5-4 victory in 10 innings had all the drama and intensity of Sunday's epic.

Great players and teams are able to overcome such obstacles to accomplish great things. And so it came to pass that way on a memorable afternoon that will only grow in the glow of history.